Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Don A. Trotter
Centre in Mining and Mineral Exploration Research, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ont., Canada
(Received June 10, 1990; accepted November 12, 1990)
ABSTRACT
Trotter, D.A., 1991. Vertical crater retreat mining in the Sudbury Basin. Min. Sci. Technol., 13: 131-143.
Faced with rising costs and lower metal prices, several Ontario base metal sulphide mines have changed their method of
mining to vertical crater retreat mining. This is a bulk mining method that utilizes large diameter holes and mines successive
cuts remotely by blasting and cratering the bottom of the drill holes. The ore body is mined from the bottom up. The method
in turn has required a change in materials handling to cope with the greatly increased productivity.
This paper presents an overview of vertical crater retreat mining in the Sudbury area using examples from several
producing mines. The paper reviews the history of vertical crater retreat mining, various methods of applying vertical crater
retreat layouts, the development of in-the-hole drills capable of drilling the large diameter holes required, methods of
explosives loading and blasting to achieve the required cratering effect, methods of ground support including backfill
placement, and the ore loading equipment presently being utilized including remote control load-hanl-dump units and
continuous loaders.
The safety aspect of vertical crater retreat mining has been of concern, and was the focus of a provincial inquiry. The
benefits in improved safety are demonstrated through an analysis of various records kept by the mines and provincial
agencies.
Future trends can now be envisaged, particularly in relation to deep mining. Some experimental work, which could have
practical applications, is described.
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rosion resistance to other metals. Copper is fill, undercut and fill, sublevel caving, block
used in wire, tubing and sheet applications. caving, open pit, and vertical crater retreat
The ore yields thirteen other elements includ- (VCR). VCR has gradually supplanted other
ing cobalt, gold, silver and the six platinum- mining methods until today about three-
group metals. quarters of the Sudbury output is obtained
Several mining methods are employed to using VCR.
extract the ore, including blasthole, cut-and-
VERTICAL CRATER RETREAT MINING IN THE SUDBURY BASIN 133
Drilling
20 m In-the-hole drills
to
90 m ORE BLASTED Drilling is usually accomplished using in-
IN SECTIONS
MOVING the-hole (ITH) drills set up in the overcut.
UPWARDS Typically, holes are 165 m m (6 1 / 2 " ) in
diameter, are vertical, and on the average
some 56 m (185 ft) in length. All holes are
drilled to break through into the undercut.
From the undercut, it is possible to observe
the amount of deviation and, if necessary,
PARTIAL O
drill another hole. From general experience in
FOR Sudbury operations, 1-2% deviation with
careful set-up should be attainable with this
Fig. 3. Section through a VCR stope. hole length and inclination.
TABLE 1
Sudbury mines using vertical crater retreat [1]
Mine Mining Deepest Backfill Remarks
rate ( t / d ) working (m)
Copper Cliff 2960 1220 Slag aggregate Research mine
North with cement slurry 100% VCR
Copper Cliff 5100 1220 Cemented Experimental mucking
South railings and rock technology 100% VCR
Creighton 9700 2130 Cemented tailings Deepest VCR mining
in world
Crean Hill 2200 1200 High density Canada's first all-
cemented sand electric mine 100% VCR
Stobie 11300 1190 Cemented tailings Highest tonnage per day
in Sudbury Basin
Little Stobie 4600 730 Cemented Productivity of
tailings and rock 22 tons/shift
McCreedy 3300 490 Cemented JDT 426
West alluvial sand truck operation
Levack 4300 1160 Cemented alluvial First mine
fill, "paste" fill to use VCR
Lower 3000 1050 Cemented tailings Producing in 1990,
Coleman an all-electric mine
Garson - 1560 Cemented tailings Placed on standby,
rockburst problem
Strathcona 2000 1400 Cemented railings VCR used for rib
pillar recovery
Lockerby 2500 1500 Cemented tailings, 100% VCR
straight railings Extensive cable bolting
VERTICAL CRATER RETREAT MINING IN THE SUDBURY BASIN 135
determined and the hole sealed at the bottom decked charges for production mining. In
of the explosive charge by a wooden plug and general, the method is avoided except for
10 mm ( 1 / 2 " ) gravel stemming. Holes are removal of the top-sill because of the possibil-
loaded with Tovan® HDC or Tovan~ extra. ity of sulphide dust explosions.
Tovan® HDC is a high density slurry devel-
oped especially for crater application. A time
delayed detonator is lowered on a primer Materials handling in VCR mining
cord and a final cartridge of Tovan® placed
above the primer. Some 2 m (6 ft) of 10 mm Radio-controlled LHD's
( 1 / 2 " ) gravel stemming is placed above the
In 1978, Jarvis Clark installed the first
charge to cause the force of the explosion to
radio control on a LHD machine in Sudbury.
act downward. A depth of burial of 2.5-3 m
For the first time, the operator was able to
(8-9 ft) was found to give an average advance
send an unmanned machine into a dangerous
of 4.4 m (14.4 ft). Mining continues in this
area to recover ore which was previously being
fashion until a 9-11 m (30-36 ft) top-sill
abandoned in a backfilled stope.
remains. This is removed in a single blast
The success of this early unit was a key
with a double decked VCR sequence. element in the utilization of VCR bulk ore
extraction techniques for Sudbury ores. To-
Variations in blasting day, over 100 LHD's have been installed with
Several variations on this technique have
radio control on all sizes and makes of loaders
been used. Because of its cheaper cost, am-
from 1-8 yards (0.9-7.3 m). Installation is
monium nitrate and fuel oil (ANFO) is frequently provided on-site by factory in-
preferred in several operations, although Sud- stallers, although many customers have the
bury experience has shown that emulsion ex- capability of completing their own installa-
plosions are easier to load. Both electric and tions. Early concerns about the operator's
non-electric detonators are used and down- inability to see the machine adequately, his
hole non-electric delays are preferred. De- loss of machine "feel" by not being on the
tonation is by solid-core downlines of de- machine himself proved to be unfounded.
tonating cord. It is possible to design blasting Machine performance and production does
patterns with virtually no limit to the number not suffer in the radio controlled operation
of holes which can be detonated separately.
[61
Vibration is related m o r e closely to In most applications, the radio controlled
charge/hole than to charge/delay. Intervals LHD is used alternately in radio mode and
remain constant throughout the series, usually manual mode. The operator loads the mac-
at 25 ms. No consensus of opinion exists on hine in the open stope with the radio control
hole pattern, hole diameter, depth of burial, and then switches to manual mode for tram-
weight of charge, or firing pattern. Blast de- ming to the ore pass and dumping. Where the
signers consider the problem to be one in tramming distance is long, the LHD stays in
which engineering geology is at least as im- the stope on radio control to load mine trucks
portant as the physics involved. The explosive which are also equipped with radio control
charges are often placed in the location and for placement near the LHD.
quantity determined by tradition, and mod-
ified by trial and error as the work progresses. Electric LHD's
Decking is used for production as well as
for removing the topsill. Both Stobie and The first electric 2 yd (1.82 m) capacity
Copper Cliff North mines have used double- LHD was used in Creighton Mine in 1975.
VERTICAL CRATER RETREAT MINING IN THE SUDBURY BASIN 137
DRAW POINTS
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a better working environment by eliminating kw (150 HP) electric drive motor and mounted
diesel fumes, greatly reducing noise levels, on crawler tracks. The crawlers are D-7 size,
and reducing the amount of heat produced. each driven by a 24 kw (32 HP) electric
motor. The whole plant can be raised by four
Continuous mucking outrigger jacks to reduce vibration while
crushing. The mobile crushing plant can oper-
A continuous loading machine known as ate effectively in an underground opening
an Osciloader CL-1000 is capable of handling with a m i n i m u m back height of 4.3 m (14 ft)
up to 500 t / h o u r (550 s T / h ) of broken muck. and operating width of 6.1 m (20 ft) It has a
The Osciloader is an electric hydraulic 32 t turning radius of 9 m (30 ft) The over-all
(35 T) machine which is crawler-mounted and profile height is designed for easy loading
has a drawbar pull of 27 t (30 T). It has an from the continuous loader to produce - 2 0
adjustable frequency, oscillating lip which cm ( - 8 in) ore at rates of 300-500 t / h .
simulates the digging action of a manual
shovel [8]. As the machine moves into the Conveying
muckpile, the lip fluidizes the material by
changing the angle of repose of the pile. This Recent developments in belt bender tech-
reduces the penetration force and regulates nology pioneered in the Saskatchewan potash
the material flow onto a short chain con- mines, as well as improvements in extensible
veyor. The conveyor elevates the muck to a conveyor belt capability, are ideally suited to
height suitable for discharge into either a panel mining. The new technology allows the
crusher, a conveyor, a truck, or a combination haulage system to advance or retreat and
of these. The continuous flow of material enables standard conveyor belts to convey
from the muck pile onto the continuous loader around corners. This overcomes the single
eliminates the cyclic interruptions for attack- largest constraint of belt conveyor systems;
ing the muck pile normally associated with namely the requirement for the belt to travel
gathering arm or bucket-type loaders. in a straight line. This new technology is now
Continuous loaders were first commis- being applied in an "integrated system" to
sioned in 1985 and are presently in use at V C R stopes in Sudbury.
Creighton, Levack, McCreedy West, Copper
Cliff North, Copper Cliff South and Stobie Integrated system
mines. Most are employed at drawpoint head-
ings loading into 23.6 t (26 t) rear-dump Loading, hauling and dumping with LHD's
diesel haulage trucks. One loader, at the Stobie is a batch process and, as such, is limited in
Mine, has been loading into a large run-of- its total output. The improvements noted
the-mine conveyor system in-line with an ore above in the areas of loading, crushing and
pass. In this configuration, the major diffi- conveying have allowed these systems to be
culty is the handling of excessively large pieces integrated into a continuous system [9].
of muck onto the conveyor. Testing of the combined system began early
in April 1987 on the 750 m (2450 ft) level at
Crushing Copper Cliff South Mine. So far, results have
been very encouraging. Stopes are mined using
At Copper Cliff South Mine, trials are the V C R method and ore handled by a fully
going on using an Eagle ® jaw crusher behind integrated system including the CL-1000
the continuous loader. The crusher is a 760 x Osciloader, an Eagle-3640 low profile crusher,
1016 m m (30 x 40") machine utilizing a 110 and extensible face conveyor and one mobile
VERTICAL CRATER RETREAT MINING IN THE SUDBURY BASIN 139
90 ° belt bender. Total conveying distance is removing a lot of the water prior to filling.
135 m (450 ft). The advantage of this practise is that
The system is able to handle up to 3000 bulkheads to retain water are not required;
t/shift, can be run by two operators, and is the fill in place is stronger, cheaper because
capable of fairly rapid moves between draw- of lower cement content, and slime and water
points. About 48 h turn-around time is re- handling costs are greatly reduced.
quired from mucking out one stope to start- Levack Mine is the site for testing paste
ing the next stope on a mucking cycle. fill, which is a pumpable mixture of 50% 2
The main criteria for the use of the con- mm ( 3 / 4 " ) crushed rock and 50% - 325 mesh
tinuous loading/crushing/conveying systems tailings slime with 15% water. The amount of
are: relatively large stoping blocks with the water is critical; too little ( < 14%) and the fill
ability to have a constant supply of fresh ore, resists pumping;too much ( > 19%) and the
a minimum tonnage of 1000 t / d a y , and en- mixture segregates.
gineering layouts and systems which allow the Copper Cliff North Mine is testing a dry
equipment to be moved from stope to stope system, whereby 0.6 m (2 ft) blasted pit-run
quickly. rock is transported underground, sprayed with
a cement slurry, and placed in the stope area.
Backfill Portland cement is mixed at a surface plant
and piped down to the working level.
Typically, when a stope is mined out and a Another "dry" system is planned for at
bulkhead constructed, a stiff 17:1 sand:ce- Crean Hill, using sand from the sand plant,
ment fill is poured 3-5 m (10-16 R.) above immediately prior to placement in the mined
the brow in the extraction drift below. Then a out slope. Where normal practise is to mix
leaner fill material 30 : 1 to 50 : 1 is poured to 70% sand and 30% water, densities of 75-80%
fill the remainder of the stope. Compressive solids are being tried. With less water, less
strengths vary with water content, cement cement is required. The high density mixture
content, curing time, etc., and range from 400 sets more strongly and the compressive
kPa (60 psi) to 200 kPa (30 psi) when dealing strength is more easily controlled than with
with mixes from 30 : 1 to 50 : 1 and about 30% thinned backfills. Another advantage is that
moisture content. water leakage is less and so are the related
The biggest problem associated with con- clean-up costs.
ventional backfill is water, which has to be
able to percolate through the backfill. This Safety aspects of VCR
requires extensive preparation of bulkheads
and drainage facilities prior to backfilling and All medical aid and lost time injuries are
is quite elaborate and expensive. Care has to recorded for all Ontario mines and entered
be taken when pouring to ensure that hydro- into a computer data bank by the Mines
static pressures do not build up and time has Accident Prevention Association of Ontario.
to be allowed for backfilled stopes to drain The data is entered from a standardized four
properly and for cement to cure. page injury investigation form and coded un-
Recently, a considerable amount of re- der 54 different fields. Since several thousand
search has been undertaken to improve the injury records have now been entered into the
general characteristics of backfill. Alternative system, it has become a very powerful ana-
approaches to conventional hydraulic back- lytical tool in accident investigation research.
filling are being developed whereby the pulp For example, the records show that a change
density of the fill is raised considerably by to VCR mining greatly reduces accidents from
140 D.A.TROTTER
scaling since less time is spent at that task. ventilate but, when feasible, washing down
The data show a trend towards reduced backs and walls and the use of air and water
workplace injuries where V C R mining is em- blasts or foggers is employed. Water stem-
ployed. This holds true when comparing total ruing of drill holes is used. Remote control
medical aid, lost-time injuries, or fatalities. blasting is practised and testing for gases is
For compensation rate purposes, Ontario's carried out in the mines before work resumes.
mines are divided into eleven different rate Long delays between charged holes are
groups depending on the commodity being avoided where possible, as are two separate
mined. The nickel group has the lowest over- blasts occurring close together.
all medical aid frequency expressed as inci-
dents per 200000 man-hours worked. This
same group is unique in that VCR mining is Research
not used to the same extent elsewhere in
Ontario, inferring that non-entry stoping One-pass mining
methods lead to overall reductions in injury
frequencies. In conventional VCR, a safe drilling hori-
V C R mining offers great potential for im- zon is established in a 12-15 m (40-50 ft)
proving productivity in mining and at the thick crown pillar below a previously mined-
same time, for improving worker safety be- out area. This crown pillar is left behind to be
cause the presence of the worker at the most mined at a later date by a more costly mining
hazardous location in mining (the recently method.
blasted face) is no longer required. The min- "One-pass" mining is contemplated for
ing method also leads to greater mechaniza- deep sections of the Creighton ore body.
tion, with an attendant reduction in the m o r e One-pass mining eliminates crown pillars as
physically exerting elements of mining. Since the ore is developed in 60 m (200 ft) vertical
the miners spend nearly all of their time in slices from the top down rather than from the
the top-sill, this area is well-bolted, screened, bottom up, and the drilling horizons are
walls painted white to increase reflectance established in the cemented sandfill lying on
and often supplied with permanent lighting. top of the ore to be mined. The drill horizon
Lighting is usually low pressure sodium run opening or top-sill will be put in place using
from air-operated generators if electricity is an Alpine miner to cut the cemented sandfill
not available. Good lighting results in good to a predetermined shape. The top-sill ex-
housekeeping and is undoubtedly a factor in cavation will then be used by ITH machines
keeping injury rates down. to remove 12-15 m (40-50 ft) panels (Fig. 6)
Sulphide dust explosions have occurred in [11,121.
V C R stopes in the Sudbury area [10]. As a Ground control was a major consideration
result of studies into the phenomena, several in this project and rock mechanics studies
precautions are now taken to prevent their indicated that an ore body can be destressed
recurrence. It is suspected that high powder by establishing a vertical opening through the
factors may produce fine dust and sulphides. centre of an ore body and by mining outward
The sulphides, being more friable than the in a radiating sequence, from the opening.
gangue, form a greater proportion of the total Once the first panel is blasted, the ore ex-
dust. Occurrences of sulphide dust explosions tracted, and the opening backfilled with ce-
show powder factors as high as 1.1 k g / t . mented sandfill, the mining will then radiate
Powder factors are now carefully monitored. out panel by panel until the entire block of
V C R stopes are difficult to wash down and to ore is removed (Fig. 7).
VERTICAL CRATER RETREAT MINING IN THE SUDBLIRy BASIN 141
Fig. 7. Mining sequence, 7200 level, Creighton Mine. 1 - 12 = order in which panels are mined.
142 D.A. TROTTER
Haulage
Conclusion
An increase in productivity is envisaged
through the addition of closed circuit TV and The use of the cratering technique provides
a wireless automatic guideway to provide un- the efficiency of bulk mining while still main-
manned tramming to the ore pass. The wire- taining the inherent ground control, dilution
less guideway operates much like a track, in and recovery qualities of the tried and true
that the machine follows a fixed path. The incremental fill methods.
pathway, which is determined by the attach- Bulk mining using the VCR method re-
ment of an antenna to the back of the drift, duces costs in several ways. It minimizes the
can be coded to provide stopping points for number of levels and simplifies secondary
machines to await remote dumping at the ore pillar recovery. Manpower is reduced and
pass and to utilize a passing recess where safety is increased since miners are not re-
loop-type tramming is not feasible. The goal quired to enter the stopes. With VCR, drilling
of this addition is to have two or more ma- and mucking operations can be carried out
chines in the work cycle, still with a single simultaneously. As research continues, par-
operator. ticularly in the areas of drilling and continu-
Inco has signed a contract with Robot De- ous mucking systems, costs can be expected
fense Systems I n c . - - a U.S. producer of to reduce even further.
VERTICAL CRATER RETREAT MINING IN THE SUDBURY BASIN 143
In summary, advantages greatly outway 3 Kelly, J. and England, R., Development of the
disadvantages. Both can be listed as follows: automatic Go-60 drill. CIM Bull., 80 (1987) 71-75.
4 Inco Inc. Boosters Improve Productivity. Inco Tri-
Advantages angle, 44 (2) (1985): 5.
(1) High productivity requiring fewer 5 Hayward, A. and Henderson, A. Modified vertical
stopes. crater retreat mining at Lockerby Mine. In: Proc.
(2) Low manpower with low mining costs. Can. Inst. Min. Underground Operators Conf., 8th
(3) No unproductive gaps in the mining (Elliot Lake, Ont.) (1987).
6 Black, M.C., Incremental automation in mining In:
cycles.
Proc. CIM Annu. Meet. Technical Sessions,
(4) Safe working conditions, since work op- Edmonton, Canada, Pap. 114 (1988).
erated from outside the stopes. 7 Sirkka, M.E., Electric LHD operation at Inco
(5) Improved ground control with faster Limited, Ontario Division. CIM Annu. Meet. Tech-
rate of advance. nical Sessions, Edmonton, Canada, Pap. 149 (1988).
(6) Applicable to stopes and pillars. Can be 8 Cusitar, W.S. and Letts, D., Continuous loading
and conveying technology in mining. CIM Bull., 80
a one-method mine.
(1987): 39-43.
Disadvantages 9 Kelly, J., A continuous mucking/crushing convey-
(1) High development costs. ing system. CIM Bull., 81 (1988): 105-109.
(2) High degree of engineering control re- 10 Moruzi, G.A., Sulphide dust explosions at falcon-
quired. bridge. CIM Annu. Meet. and Technical Sessions,
Edmonton, Canada, Pap. 189 (1988).
(3) Less flexibility in grade control.
11 Creighton Deep--Inco's oldest mine develops new
(4) Not suitable for stringer type deposits. ore reserves below 7,000 level. Inco Triangle, 44 (7)
(1985): 10-12.
12 Whiteway, P., How Inco did it. Northern Miner
References Mag., 1 (4) (1986): 13-17.
13 Sassos, M.P., New ideas for mining at Inco. Eng.
1. Scales, M., Keeping costs down. Can. Min. J., 109 Min. J. (1986): 36-41.
(6) (1988): 29-38. 14 Livingston, C.W., U.S. Pat. 3762771, Oct. 2nd
2 Haines, T., An automated rock bolter for hard rock (1973).
mines. Can. Min. J., 108 (12) (1987): 28-29.